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E D I T O R I A L<br />
NEW YORK, JULY 23, 1913.<br />
_ PRESSURE ON DENOMINATIONS.<br />
We have already set forth some- of the<br />
work of the Edinburgh Continuation Committee<br />
pressing into one the churches in the<br />
Mission fields, as in the Near East, as<br />
semblies that include the Copts, the Greeks,<br />
the Catholics (as far as they can be led.)<br />
Of course, the Pope will tolerate no rival.<br />
The following account is given by the Missionary<br />
Review of the World of the assembly<br />
in China, wherein the tinge of authority appears.<br />
The bands are forming.<br />
"John R. Mott, representing the Edinburgh Continuation<br />
Committee, held flve sectional conferences<br />
with the missionaries in various parts of<br />
China, and, finally, March 11 to 14 conducted a<br />
national conference in Shanghai. Delegates came<br />
from the churches of the whole nation, and canvassed<br />
the results so far obtained in the evangelization<br />
of the Chinese people and the principles<br />
upon which the further development of the missionary<br />
enterprise in that land must be prosecuted.<br />
There were 120 mission representatives, twothirds<br />
foreigners and one-third Chinese. It was<br />
agreed that under present circumstances no one<br />
can say precisely how muoh ol 'China remains yet<br />
to be evangelized, but the provinces of Yunnan,<br />
Kwang«i, and Kweichew in the extreme southwestern<br />
portion of the country and Kansuh in the<br />
northwest are as yet almost untouched. Mongolia,<br />
an especially difficult field, has scarcely ten<br />
missionaries in all its vast extent. Eastern<br />
Turkestan, an immense area, is occupied in only<br />
three centers in the extreme west, .around Kashgar.<br />
Tibet has not been entered at all, although<br />
five or six missions are working along its borders<br />
and ready to take the first opportunity of<br />
pressing into the country. A survey of the entire<br />
Chinese fieldis to be made and a mapping of<br />
districts yet untouched is requested immediately.<br />
It was voted that- no' mission should hereafter enter<br />
any occupied district without the full consent<br />
ol the forces already on the ground. The<br />
conference spoke with positiveness in favor of a<br />
single missionary church in China, eliminating all<br />
Western denominational lines. Even pending actual<br />
<strong>org</strong>anic union, it was urgently recommended<br />
that all churches should discard every distinctive<br />
name and assume only the single title, The Christian<br />
Church in China. Churches which already<br />
enjoy intercommunion were urged to combine at<br />
once, while federation, local and provincial, was<br />
recommended where churches felt unable to surrender<br />
denominational peculiarities. A hymnal<br />
for all union churches and a book ol prayer lor<br />
voluntary use of public worship were ordered prepared<br />
by committees appointed. It was also recommended<br />
that the Chinese be received to a<br />
share in the administration of foreign funds used<br />
for the support of their churches; that church<br />
buildings as far as possible should be built on<br />
ground not owned by the missions; and that<br />
Chinese congregations should be encouraged to<br />
send representatives to local and district <strong>org</strong>anizations."<br />
So far for the Foreign field. How about<br />
the Home Field? There is the Episcopal<br />
movement, with the World Conference, the<br />
plans for which are under way. Therein<br />
looms up the Historic Episcopate, for the<br />
THE CHRISTIAN NATION. Vol. 69.<br />
unifying head, asi witness the proceedings in<br />
the India assembly of the Continuation Committee.<br />
Strange to say, a special committee of<br />
the Southern Presbyterian Church is working<br />
for Presbyterian union on a new line.<br />
Dr. Thornton Whaling writes in The Continent,<br />
as from headquarters. The following is<br />
from a notice in the Presbyterian of July<br />
9:<br />
"This special committee presented a scheme of<br />
federation by a Congress, composed of two houses<br />
—a senate and a house of representatives. The<br />
senators to be equal in number from each body<br />
represented in the lederatlon, and the house to<br />
be composed of representatives elected on a certain<br />
numerical basis. This, of course, is after the<br />
general analogy ol our National Congress. This<br />
plan was relerred to the next Assembly.<br />
We do not like the spirit ol the last paragraph<br />
of Dr. Whaling's article in The Continent. It<br />
is as follows:<br />
'This plan is the only one which at present is<br />
in the field of practical ecclesiastics. The left<br />
wing in all the Churches wants union, the right<br />
wing wishes to be left alone, the center is willing<br />
to move, but move slowly. The left wing will<br />
take this measure, because it can get nothing else;<br />
the right wing had better take it, or it will get<br />
something worse; while the real center will move<br />
forward along the path of this plan, confident of<br />
being guided aright today, and leaving to the future<br />
and to the great Head of the Church the decision<br />
as to what further steps may be taken at<br />
a later day."<br />
"This paragraph has the smell of powder ahd<br />
force.<br />
"The centre is to rule, and the left wing and<br />
right wing are to submit. The one because it<br />
can get nothing better, and the other because it<br />
may get something worse."<br />
Out of all this human planning the Divine<br />
Spirit may bring something of service<br />
to the Kingdom of God. The Witnessing<br />
Church in Scotland stood out for the Headship<br />
of Christ and the independence of his<br />
Church, from Bishop, Pope, or King; and the<br />
Church today must be on her guard.<br />
Internation C. E. Convention.—With nearly 13,-<br />
000 delegates attending from all parts of the Christianized<br />
world, the 26th Ihternational Christian<br />
Endeavor Convention opened at Los Angeles, Cal.<br />
on the evening of July 9. The multitude was seated<br />
in the gigantic canvas auditorium amid semitropic<br />
scenes—a copy of Southern California outof-doors<br />
carried bodily inside. Palm tree vistas<br />
served for aisles, and vines concealed the supporting<br />
pillars.<br />
Francis E. Clark of Washington, D. C, the president<br />
of the <strong>org</strong>anization, presided. A chorus of<br />
TOO voices joined in the service of praise.<br />
President Wilson's message of greeting read:<br />
"It would be a great pleasure to me if I could<br />
attend the convention. Will you not convey to<br />
those assembled my warmest greetings and my<br />
sincere wishes for the happy success of their<br />
work."<br />
Secretary Bryan wrote in part: "As you know,<br />
I feel deeply interested in the Christian Endeavor<br />
movement, and appreciate its extended growth and<br />
great usefulness. It is one ol our largest instrumentalities<br />
lor Christian service, and I feel sure<br />
its luture labors will surpass its present activities."<br />
Dr. Francis E. Clark, founder of the society,<br />
was unanimously re-elected president.<br />
ECHOES-FKO'M PORTLAND.<br />
"It is • difficult to transport a scene over<br />
3,cxx3 miles without losing something, and I<br />
very much regret that this brief resume of<br />
the Portland Conference is apt to lose enthusiasm<br />
by the transportation. It is compiled<br />
from a report written by R. B. Perry<br />
of Atchison, Kansas. Sd writes ^iss Florence<br />
B. O'Neill.—Ed.<br />
It is with feelings of profoutid gratitude<br />
to God Almighty, to the distinguished men<br />
vvho have addressed us, and to the good people<br />
of Portland who have entertained us,<br />
that the delegates separate, as the Second<br />
World's Christian Citizenship Conference<br />
closes. The Conference opened on July 29th<br />
with a large meeting in the stadiiim, and addresses<br />
of welcome to hundreds of delegates<br />
were given by Governor West of Oregon,<br />
Mayor-elect H. R. Allbee of Portland,. Hon.<br />
Chas. E. Wolverton, Judge of the U. S. District<br />
Court, District of Oregon, and Hon. T.<br />
J. Cleeton, County and Probate Judge of<br />
Multnomah County Court, and the response<br />
to these addresses of welcome was made by<br />
Dr. James S. Martin, General Supt. of the*<br />
National Reform Association. With slight'<br />
exception the weather has been propitious and<br />
the places of meeting wdl adapted to our<br />
purpose. Afternoon and evening sessions have'<br />
been held in a large stadium, and three churches<br />
opened their auditoriums for three sectional<br />
conferences meeting simultaneously in the<br />
n-^orning, discussing the following topics:'<br />
The Family, Peace, Capital and Labor, Pub-'<br />
lie Education, Prison Reform, Intemperance,<br />
Social Purity, Immigration, The Sabbath',-<br />
Mormonism. Each conference had a commission<br />
at length after careful investigation<br />
through an authoritative Chairman, and after':<br />
expert speakers, they concluded with puiblicdiscussion.<br />
The audiences have been large,<br />
the sectional conferences running high up in--<br />
to the hundreds while the stadium speakers;<br />
have addressed thousands that have been at-;<br />
tentive and responsive, and often has the;<br />
spirit of enthusiasm been almost beyond con-'<br />
trol. All addresses were of a high order,!<br />
well worthy of preservation and careful<br />
study, and the public press of Portland.has<br />
been most generous in the space they have<br />
given to the Conference in their columns. -,<br />
A broad and comprehensive program chal-..<br />
lenged our attention, discussing almost every;<br />
phase of Christian Citizenship and Human.<br />
Welfare. Seldom have so many leaders of,<br />
world thought oome together on the same<br />
platform from all ends of the earth—Ame"'<br />
ca, Europe, Asia, and the Isiles of the Sea,<br />
all having been represented. The Conference<br />
was unanimous in the resolve that certain<br />
things in our body politics must go.<br />
Chiefest of these are the saloon, the social<br />
evil, the white slave traffic, easy divorce, industrial<br />
injustice, excessive child labor, and<br />
Mormonism, and on the other hand we are also<br />
profoundly convinced that certain time-lion-